This invention relates to the sheet feeding art, and more particularly to a circular sheet feeding apparatus that includes a loading tray that can be used for loading uneven stacks of sheets.
In well-known circular sheet feeding devices of the type used with folding machines, the sheets are conveyed by the extractor in a direction over and across the loading tray. The resulting loading tray cover considerably impedes the placing of the stack of sheets on the loading tray, so that in spite of the favorable height of the loading tray, the placing of the stack of sheets on it is rather difficult. Moreover, in one known type of circular sheet feeding apparatus for printing presses, the upper sheet of a stack sitting on the pick-up tray has to be removed perpendicularly to the conveying direction. For sheets with different formats, such a device cannot be used. For this reason it is also not suitable for use with folding machines in which sheets of varying sizes are generally used. Sheets with varying formats, in this feeder, have the same result as the narrow or broad differences of the broad sheet sizes, namely that the top sheet lies in a more or less inclined position and can therefore not be gripped by the extractor in a reliable way.